My relationship with Amir's family was 'one-way love', says Faryal Makhdoom in first TV interview
Remember when boxer Amir Khan said the public feud between his wife Faryal Makhdoom and his family needs to stop immediately?
Well, looks like Faryal planned on having the last word. Yesterday, she went live on British TV channel ITV's This Morning show to talk about her tiff with Amir's family.
In response to Amir's parents' claims that their only objection to Faryal is her clothing, she said that she dresses exactly like she did at their first meeting:
"When Amir's family had come to my house, I remember the first time I ever met them, I was wearing sleeveless and I was always very modern in my dressing whereas I'm not really a drinker, smoker, party girl. I respect my religion a lot but in my dress sense I was very open about it and I remember the first day Amir's mom and dad had come with him, they knew the way I dress."
She says she initially enjoyed a good rapport with Amir's family.
"My mom was very open. I am the same person today as I was five years ago when I got engaged and no one addressed that you know 'sorry we can't accept you because of the way you dress' or 'sorry you're too Western or too independent we won't accept you.' Everything was fine, we all really got along, we had such great laughs and you know, they were so happy to welcome me into the family. So that's how it worked out in the beginning."
But soon it all started to unravel, she shared. Six months into the engagement, Faryal remembers first noticing all was not well.
"I remember it was a few months before my wedding. I went to Pakistan to do some shopping and I wanted to surprise Amir. He was in Dubai with his family at the time. So my brother and I, I wanted to go to surprise Amir for Valentine's day and he had told me 'it would be so nice to see you, we haven't seen each other for a while' because he used to be training. I thought it was a surprise. It would be cute. Little did I know it would backfire on me. "
Faryal's visit made the family very upset and she wasn't allowed to see her fiance.
"This was the first time ever where, it was so weird that, I guess I wasn't allowed to see him. In the beginning of my engagement, I was allowed to see him. They were very happy for me to come and visit. Very happy to send Amir. But suddenly after like when it got closer to the wedding, I remember Amir's mom and dad saying 'she's ruined our whole family holiday and we're going to take you back the next day.' Amir had to fly out to the UK the next day, he was not allowed to see me. And that's when I knew that you know what, if I'm not getting accepted being Amir's fiance, I'm not sure how easy it would be to be accepted being his wife."
Faryal also revealed what made her go public with this longstanding family feud.
"It's not in my nature to ever go public about personal matters," claims Faryal. "Over the years, Amir's brother and sister went on Twitter rants, went on Instagram rants, talking about me, saying I don't get along with them, saying I'm very fake, I've done plastic surgery, calling me Michael Jackson, and I was a pregnant woman you know, reading all that was not very nice. Anyway I used to take it in. I was very, very patient about it. I thought my silence would probably make them stop."
But it didn't stop, it just grew and Faryal had had enough.
She says, "Just recently I think it just started to build up, build up, build up, and I had done a catwalk and I was very proud of myself. Amir was very very supportive and proud of me. And I had seen Amir's younger sister had said something like dog walk and made a comment and laughed about it. It really really hurt me. Because when I didn't work and I used to just stay at home I was called a gold-digger. [It was said that] I'm with Amir for his money."
Amir recently broke his silence and said that not only does he not want anything to do with this fight, he also wants it to end immediately.
On being asked why Faryal, despite Amir's statement, chose to come on the show, she replied, "I spoke to Amir about it and Amir has always been very supportive of me. Obviously it's getting too much for him. He has to be neutral, there are his parents on one side and I'm his wife on another side and he's basically in the middle and I did say to Amir that I would like to get my message across and he said that's fine. He said we can put everything behind after this."
She adds, "For Amir's sake, I had always tried to play my part and I felt it was one-way love. I went to Amir's brother's wedding. I wasn't invited but I still went out of respect and I danced with his mom and I can see that smile on Amir's face that we were getting along. We never stopped talking to Amir's family. I want to make that clear. They stopped talking to me and Amir for absolutely no reason. Amir had nothing to do with this."
On being asked if she sees the family getting along in the future, Faryal says, "I would really like for all of us to get along. It wasn't our choice for them to move out. They wanted to move out and Amir supported them in that. It would be nice for them to eventually get on with us. I always tried and I will always keep trying. But I don't know how possible that is, especially being in a marriage for three years and not having great communication."
After her interview, it looks like Amir's family decided it isn't time to bury the hatchet.
Her appearance on This Morning prompted her father-in-law to share with MailOnline that 'She is pushing Amir to the limit with her accusations and I feel very sorry for my son."
He refers to Faryal as an evil wife and says, "It's not fair. While he is out working so hard with his foundation, helping people he doesn't even know but who are so deprived and he just wants to make them happy, look what his wife's doing?"
He adds, "She is trying to come between us, she is trying to break up the very close relationship we have with Amir. She is a very evil woman."
On her going live on This Morning, he says, "She's not picking up the phone, calling us to try and make amends. No, with her big ego she's gone on national TV and [stuttered] through the interview. It's crazy."
And he does not believe what Faryal has to say about Amir's support. "She said it's with her husband's blessing but I don't think so," he said.
Oh well, looks like this isn't the end of this fight after all.
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